Does your nose know the difference?

With an adult’s help, see which part of a flower carries the strongest scent by trying this experiment a few times with different kinds of flowers.

Also try using a bud instead of a full-grown flower. Do you notice a difference in the scent? Why might that be?

What You’ll Need

Different types of flowers

Jars with lids

What to Do

Separate a flower’s parts into different jars, with a similar amount in each jar. (In the jars above, A contains the sepal and other green parts, B gathers the petals, and C holds the stamens and stigmas, where pollen is produced and deposited.)

Fasten the lids on the jars, and let the parts sit for a few hours.

Open the lids and gently sniff. Which part has the strongest scent?

How It Works

A flower in full bloom tends to have a stronger scent than a bud has. Scientists believe that a plant will produce the most scent when it is ready for pollinators to visit. For example, many plants that are pollinated by moths tend to produce the most scent in the evening or at night, when moths are most active, while plants pollinated by bees produce the most scent during the day, when bees are active. A bud likely has less scent than a blooming flower because it has not fully developed yet and so it’s not yet ready for pollinators to visit.